caption, page 5:
Foodshare
Volunteers and pallets of food occupy the center lane at the Foodshare March 6 held at the Putnam Middle School parking lot. Vehicles formed two lanes, on either side of the volunteers, stopped their cars, popped the trunk for volunteers to load the food box and off they went. Like clockwork. Linda Lemmon photo.
Foodshare
$ looks good
for extension
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
While there are some differences to be worked out between the recently passed Senate version of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the House’s version, renewed funding for the USDA Farmer to Families Food Box program is not likely to be touched.
Thousands of this region’s residents have benefitted from the current program which runs out in April, according to Bruce Hay, second vice president of the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse. Each week more and more residents flock to the drive-thru program, receiving one or two 30-pound boxes of food.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 contains some “$3.6 billion (about 35 percent of total agricultural expenditures) for USDA to purchase and distribute agricultural commodities and fund COVID-19 mitigation efforts for agricultural and supply chain workers.”
The federation added: “Similar efforts through the Farmers to Families Food Box program have resulted in the delivery of over 140 million food boxes including dairy products, fluid milk, fruits, vegetables and pre-cooked meats. This package differs in that the food donation efforts are now expected to also include other distribution channels such as restaurants and food-related entities that can receive, store, process and distribute food items.”
In addition, the federation said: “Other efforts to protect the food and agricultural supply chain include $300 million for animal monitoring and surveillance efforts for the incidence of SARS–CoV–2. For example, mink and cats are more likely to expose humans to the viral strain that causes COVID-19 in humans. Another $100 million is appropriated to reduce fees associated with overtime inspection costs at federally inspected small and very small meat, poultry and egg processing facilities.”
The region’s Foodshare program was the brainchild of Tom Pandolfi, president of the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse. Hay said it was started in September 2019 for veterans and the general population was added this year.
Some 1,200 30-pound boxes of food are distributed at each Foodshare event in Putnam. It’s free and open to all.
With military precision, the Foodshare event March 6 quickly dispensed 1,200 30-pound boxes of food. Free.
Hay said 575 vehicles came through the drive-through food giveaway held outside at the Putnam Elementary/Middle schools complex. Volunteers directed cars up the driveway and then split them off into two parallel lanes. In between were volunteers and pallets of food boxes. Cars paused briefly, popped the trunks, volunteers loaded the boxes and on to the next car. Hay said although the start time was 10 a.m. they started earlier to make sure the line didn’t spill over onto Wicker Street.
Boxes, according to Hay, contain 5 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of apples, 3 pounds of onions, 4 pounds of pre-cooked poultry, 1 pound of hot dogs, a gallon of milk, a pound of cheese and containers of yogurt.
Putnam Mayor Barney Seney said he was pleased with how well it went.
Volunteers this round came from the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse, the town of Putnam, the Putnam American Legion Post 13, the Putnam VFW Post 1523, the Putnam Business Association, Northstar Mortgage, the Putnam and Danielson Lodges of Elks and Rawson Materials. Hay said the Elks took 40 boxes to take to shut-ins.
The next Foodshare is Saturday, March 20 at the schools. Free. All welcome. (be sure to wear your masks). In addition, between 9 and 10 a.m. every Tuesday some 100 30-pound boxes are distributed from the Putnam Farmers Market on Kennedy Drive with volunteers from the Putnam American Legion, the Putnam VFW and the Coffeehouse. Be sure to wear your masks.
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The Northeast District Department of Health (NDDH) and Day Kimball Healthcare (DKH) collaborated on a busy week of school vaccination clinics, delivering more than 1,600 vaccinations to eligible school personnel and licensed child care providers. Public, private, and parochial schools from Sterling, Thompson, Eastford, Putnam, Pomfret, Woodstock, and Hampton were vaccinated last week along with employees from EASTCONN, which serves multiple schools districts in eastern and central Connecticut.
The week of March 7 will include schools from Brooklyn, Killingly, and Canterbury, Marianapolis, Harvard H. Ellis Technical School, and EASTCONN’s Quinebaug Middle College. NDDH and DKH expect to deliver another 1,000 doses this week, which will bring vaccination totals for this target population to more than 2,600. Nearly 3,400 school personnel were eligible for vaccination.
“The initiative has taken a significant amount of coordination but has been well worth the effort because we have attained high vaccination rates in a very short amount of time,” said Sue Starkey, NDDH Director of Health “The aim was to vaccinate as many eligible education and child care personnel as possible and we did that thanks to strong community partnerships with our clinical providers, schools, vaccination planning teams, and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers. We could not be more grateful for these partnerships.”
Remaining EASTCONN employees will be vaccinated the week of March 14, along with any school personnel and child care providers who were unable to make scheduled clinics.
DKH used the new one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at school clinics last week and used it March 9 to vaccinate personnel from Killingly schools, while NDDH will roll out the J & J vaccine for its VAMS clinics set for Wednesday and Friday of this week.
Generations Family Health Center has added appointment slots in their VAMS scheduling platform and vaccine is also available at Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart pharmacies.
“The success of the vaccination effort in Connecticut is giving all communities a real sense of hope,” said NDDH Education and Communications Coordinator Linda Colangelo. “We are still abundantly cautious as we face variant strains and outbreaks that may arise as restrictions ease, sports return, and warmer weather beckons people to gather. Keep up the prevention strategies that work. Wear your mask, watch your distance, wash your hands. Let’s cross that finish line together.”
Vaccination eligibility: https://portal.ct.gov/Coronavirus/COVID-19-Vaccination
NDDH primary resource for linking people to vaccination options: https://www.nddh.org/services/emergency-preparedness/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-
19/covid-19-vaccination/
NDDH/DKH School Vaccination Plan:
Tuesday, March 9: Brooklyn Schools – NDDH, Brooklyn Elementary School, Brooklyn Middle School, The Learning Clinic, Killingly Schools – DKH, Goodyear Early Childhood Center, Killingly Head Start, Killingly Memorial School, Killingly Central School, Killingly Intermediate School, Killingly High School, St. James School.
March 10 – NDDH: Harvard H. Ellis Technical School, Quinebaug Middle College.
March 11 – NDDH: Canterbury Elementary School, Dr. Helen Baldwin Middle School.
March 12 – NDDH: Marianapolis.
Week of March 14 - Remaining EASTCONN; school personnel and child care providers.
Testing Sites
Sema4 COVID-19 regional testing sites, as of March 7: 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays at Quinebaug Valley Community College; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Putnam Riverview Market Pavilion. 3 to 7 p.m. Thursdays at the Plainfield Senior Center. They are free, no appointments needed, any age, drive-thru or walk up.
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caption:
Members of the three Woodstock fire departments took part in Ice Rescue training March 6 at Roseland Park. Webster brought its Hovercraft. Top and upper left: training. Lower right: An immersion suit set out to dry on a picnic table. Linda Lemmon photos.
Training on the 'cold side'
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
Woodstock fire departments, Bungay Fire Brigade, Muddy Brook Fire Department, and Woodstock Vol. Fire Association, took part in ice rescue training March 6 at Roseland Park.
Webster Fire and Rescue brought its Hovercraft and all practiced rescuing ‘victims’ in immersion suits in the open water. 30-40 took part, according to Allan Kelly, dive rescue command, and the training went “very well.” Comments at the finish of the training session keyed in on the importance of immersion suits, how many people it takes to safely pull someone who has fallen through the ice and the recognition that the departments all work well together and part of the reason is that they all train together. Kelly, who started the dive team back in 1980, said there are three training sessions: Ice rescue, under-ice rescue and swift water rescue. They try to do all of them each year. The dive team, he said has gone out on mutual aid from Nashua, N.H. to the far side of Connecticut and into Massachusetts. “Some are new to cold suits,” he said, “so training was important for that.” It was a well-run drill, overall, he added.
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caption, page 2:
Seniors Honored
The Woodstock Academy honored the four seniors on the girls’ basketball team prior to their Senior Night game with Killingly. From left: Alexa Pechie, Peyton Saracina, Sara Cotillo Soria and Kaitlin Birlin. Photo by Mike Susi/Woodstock Academy.
Roundup
Centaurs
celebrate
Senior Night
The four seniors on the Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball team were honored prior to the contest with Killingly, the final regular season girls’ game.
It was a different kind of night. In the past, Senior Night was the time for seniors to be honored with parents and friends in attendance. The pandemic changed that with no spectators allowed at games. But the four seniors took it in stride, knowing their parents and friends were watching the game which was being livestreamed.
The coaching staff served as the escorts for the senior players, stepping in for parents.
The seniors were just grateful to be able to have a Senior Night at all. “It’s been a really great experience that I could be here, especially this season. It’s been a little tough, but I love my teammates and I’m just happy to be here,” said Woodstock Academy senior Kaitlin Birlin.
Alexa Pechie has been a member of the Centaurs for the last three seasons.
While the home games, with the exception of a possible regional tournament game, may be over, the season is not.
The Centaurs will be on the road all of this week, travelling to Killingly, Plainfield and Griswold to finish off the regular season.
Sara Cotillo Soria came to Woodstock Academy from Madrid, Spain, last year and after a year at the JV level was able to play varsity ball this season. While Madrid may be a much larger area, Cotillo Soria said she appreciates how eastern Connecticut celebrates its high school athletes.
Unfortunately, Senior Night didn’t end with a win. Killingly remained undefeated with a 51-40 win over the Centaurs but it was close through the first half.
Birlin, who came in averaging two points a game, had three times that amount by the end of the first quarter as the Centaurs trailed by only four. She finished with a season-high 12 points.
The Centaurs pulled within one in the second quarter, 16-15, on a 3-pointer by Sadie Susi but Killingly rallied to scored nine of the next 11 points and built a 29-21 lead at the half.
The lead grew for Killingly (6-0) in the second half as freshman Hannah Grudzien dominated.
The 6-foot forward scored eight of her 13 points in the third quarter which enabled Killingly to extend its advantage to 15 points, 47-32.
The Centaurs never got closer than the final margin.
Junior Aurissa Boardman also scored 12 for the Centaurs to tie for team-scoring honors; she hit a pair of second half 3-pointers.
The Centaurs went into the final week of the regular season with a 3-3 record as they also fell to Putnam, 48-30, last week.
Woodstock Academy kept it close in the first quarter, trailing by just two, but the Clippers outscored them 8-2 in the second to take an 18-10 halftime lead.
Putnam center Abby St. Martin took over in the second half when she scored 13 of her game-high 23 points. St. Martin scored eight in the fourth quarter when the Clippers outscored Woodstock Academy 18-12.
Boardman scored 10 of her team-high 14 points in the final quarter for the Centaurs. Saracina and Birlin had four points each.
Boys’ Basketball
Centaurs tied atop ECC North
In the scheme of things in the 2021 high school boys’ basketball season, this week looms pretty large for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs.
The Centaurs went into the week tied with both Killingly and Plainfield atop the ECC North Region. All sported 5-1 records coming into the week.
The Centaurs could have been a game ahead in the win column, but their game with Wheeler scheduled for March 4 was cancelled.
“It’s very nice,” said Woodstock Academy coach Marty Hart after a 42-37 win over Killingly March 2. “The win over Killingly was kind of a two-fer because it ties us up but it also puts us ahead in the head-to-head. To win on their court in a game decided in the last 20 seconds is pretty exciting.”
What’s even better for the Centaurs is that they welcomed both of the teams that they are currently tied with at home this week.
Woodstock Academy hosted Killingly March 8 (the game ended too late for this edition) and play Plainfield at 7 p.m. March 10, at home.
There was plenty of strategy March 2 as the two teams locked into a low-scoring affair.
The game, according to Hart, was very methodical on both sides of the ball with every possession eating a lot of clock on both sides.
The Woodstock Academy coach said that was the game plan as the Centaurs wanted to keep Killingly in front of the defense and win the rebound battle.
Junior Ethan Davis made that happen as he pulled down 12 rebounds while Logan Talbot added seven caroms and Dmitrii Zinchenko had six boards.
The defense was spurred by senior forward Liam Blanchflower (7 points).
Baribeau scored 15 points but, importantly, all of those came in the first three quarters.
Jacob Hernandez and Andrew Johnson also did their part defensively, holding Killingly guard Jason Grzysiewicz to 11 points.
The Centaurs led by one in a low-scoring first half, 21-20, but fell behind 34-30 going into the final quarter.
Woodstock Academy was able to string together a couple of good possessions, getting the shots it wanted in the final quarter and some key offensive boards helped the Centaurs take a 39-37 lead with 38 seconds left.
The Centaurs then executed a bit of a trick play after a made basket by Killingly as Davis passed to Parker Anderson out of bounds and Anderson found Davis streaking down the floor by himself for the open layup and the four-point lead.
Johnson (10 points) made one of two free throws in the final seconds to account for the final. Talbot led the Centaurs with 18 points.
“Logan’s points were spread out (he scored 7 in the first, 2 in the second, 4 in the third and 5 in the fourth quarter) but they were important. I thought he did a nice job of hunting for his shot and not forcing it. He took what they allowed him and made them pay for it,” Hart said.
Prep Basketball
Centaurs Gold split two
It was a 50-50 weekend for the Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball team.
The Centaurs hung on for a 57-56 win over Canterbury School March 5 but fell short on the road to the Saints in New Milford March 6, 79-73.
It has been the tale for the Centaurs this season.
Play two games on the weekend and then hope that everyone remains healthy so that more games can be played the following weekend.
It doesn’t lend to teams having much in the way of consistency.
“Everyone has the same challenges. Some schools are playing more than others and that’s to their credit. Good job for them. We have had a great plan up to this point. To have six or seven days between each of your games is a challenge because the things you are working on, you have to wait until the next week to see if they work in a game,” said Woodstock Academy prep basketball coach Jacque Rivera.
Canterbury School was a typical opponent for the Centaurs. The Saints, while not as big as the Centaurs inside, were very good shooters from the floor.
As a result, they opened a nine-point lead early in the first half, 23-14, before the Centaurs rallied. An 8-0 run, keyed by four points from Pipe Ajayi (10 points), cut that lead to a point with 6 ½ minutes left in the half.
The Centaurs tied it with 1:16 to play and a couple of free throws by Julian Soumaoro (12 points) and an inside follow for Isha Mohammade put Woodstock Academy ahead, 30-27, at the half.
One tough situation developed for the Centaurs in the first half as point guard Abdias Carcamo went down with an injury.
Woodstock Academy overcame that and were able to build as much as a 15-point lead thanks in part to the effort of Dashon Gittens who scored seven of his team-high 14 in the second half.
The Saints came back, however, and scored 11 of the last 14 points, just falling short.
Gittens scored 33 points March 7 but the Centaurs fell short out in New Milford to fall to 2-3 on the season. Soumaoro added 14 in the loss.
Cheshire Academy prevailed in both games against the Centaurs Blue prep team this past weekend.
The Centaurs had some troubles at the free throw line March 5. They missed 10 from the charity stripe and had those gone in, the outcome would have been different, as the Centaurs fell to the Cats 64-55.
Jayden Beloti scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half for the Centaurs. D’Amonte Johnson was the only other player in double figures with 10.
The Cats’ defense also held up on their home floor March 6 where they prevailed over the Centaurs 63-54.
Beloti again led Woodstock Academy with 19 points and was the only player in double figures. =Levi King added nine in the loss.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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